Hey there, visionaries. Today, we’re going to talk about how you can avoid overpaying as you’re building your team.

So often when I step into six-figure or even seven-figure businesses, their payroll is the biggest expense in their business. As their business has grown and revenue has grown, oftentimes their payroll has really grown tremendously during that time as well, to the point that many CEOs have not given themselves a raise for years.

In fact, they may even be paying some of their team members more than they’re paying themselves, because there comes a point in your business where you cannot create your vision without having the support of a team around you.

Personally, there’s no way that I could create my vision without my team. My team is my greatest asset, and having them is the reason I get to achieve the level of impact, income and freedom that I have now in my business.

So building your team and having your team beside you is obviously super important, but it’s also really important that your business is profitable and that you as the CEO can continue to reap the benefits as you grow your business.

I cannot tell you how often I step into seven-figure businesses where the CEO themselves literally are making less than they were making at the beginning of their business, because as the business grew and the demands grew, they hired more and more people and have hardly been able to grow their own profit margin and their own CEO paycheck.

Why This Matters

So why does building your team with this in mind matter? Is it about the money? No, it’s not necessarily about the money.

Money is just energy. But sometimes the way we get rewarded for the energy that we put into anything in the world comes back as money.

Money is part of the equation that makes us feel like we have an equitable relationship with the universe. So if we’re not in equal exchange with your business and the universe in that way, putting in more than you’re getting back, it can leave you feeling underappreciated or undervalued. And all of these things have a direct impact on your overall success in business.

So this is an equation that’s really important to straighten out and get right for you, and for your team members as you’re building your team, as well.

Brains vs. Hands

When I’m looking at a team, I see Brains vs. Hands.

Brains are people who think strategically. They’re the people that can actually take chaos and create strategic systems for you. They can simplify complex problems and problem-solve on their own.

The Hands are more execution-oriented. They love to check off their to-do list. They love to do the repetitive, everyday tasks in your business, and they thrive on getting the job done right.

You need both kinds of people when building your team, but most of the time, Hands are not going to know how to think through a problem the way you would or how to create systems. If they step into chaos, they will get lost, because they need systems around them to feel supported and be able to execute on their tasks really well.

Often when you are scaling your business and building your team, you hire a bunch of Hands. You put them into chaos because you haven’t yet organized your business and created systems and workflows and SOPs, all the things the Hands need around them to really execute really well.

So instead you put them into the chaos of your business, where most of the things that need to get done are sitting in your brain as intellectual property and haven’t quite come out of there yet and become systems. Instead, you’re trying to verbally tell them what they need to do as you are rushing around, keeping all the plates in the air in your business and making sure nothing breaks, but that’s not how Hands work best.

So what happens next? They end up falling short. They’re not able to make the right decisions. They make big mistakes because they don’t understand the consequences of some of the actions that they’re taking. They’re trying to help you and do the best they can, but they don’t have all the pieces they need to do the job right and fast.

After a couple mistakes, they get slowed down. Now they’re afraid of taking any actions without your constant direction and assurance. Because of this, now you are constantly being interrupted. You’re overwhelmed. This is adding to the stress you’re carrying, after you hired these people to take things off of your to-do list in the first place.

So what is the solution? You start building your team again and end up hiring Brains; maybe even somebody who owns their own agency. They have a lot of strategic input and maybe even help you with setting up some systems. Then their team comes in and does the job for you, and it feels like a relief.

But here’s the thing: you end up overpaying for that support, because in the beginning, it may seem worth it to pay for the strategic input. Over time, however, as things get streamlined in your business and they get used to how to run your business, they just keep running it for you at a very low cost to them, and they are pocketing your profit.

The other thing that starts happening that I think many CEOs do not consider is that when you outsource your systems, SOPs, and workflows that Hands need around them in order to be successful, the systems and workflows that get developed for your business stay within the agency’s business. They don’t get installed into your business to be replicated, which is a problem, because you could potentially keep building your team down the road and bring somebody else in to do those tasks for you at a much lower cost and still do it really well if you owned those systems.

This is why you end up overpaying when building your team, as do many other CEOs. You don’t have the systems in place to support the Hands. You end up having to keep building your team and hire Brains to do Hands tasks, which makes you incredibly dependent on the Brains that you hire, because they end up creating the systems you need. Now they own all of the intellectual property. They hold the key to those assets that should be built into your business.

This is how many CEOs get to a point in their business where they have a few key team members they almost feel held hostage by. They’re paying them six-figure salaries, even though they’re not paying themselves that, and they keep doing it because they’re terrified that this person is going to leave. They can’t afford to have that person leave, because that person holds all the keys to this very important part of their business, and they feel like the whole business is going to come crumbling down if that person leaves.

The CEO ends up in this weird dynamic with some of their team members, and over time, that really erodes the growth of the business as well; remember, your business grows in direct proportion to how much you yourself are willing to grow.

Building Your Team Successfully

If you are stuck in this dysfunctional relationship with your team, both profit leaks and energy leaks will happen all over your business and will undermine every effort that you are putting into your business to scale it and grow it and see it flourish.

What you need to do to avoid this is to actually develop those systems, workflows, and SOPs inside your business and then start building your team when they have the systems around them to execute their tasks really well.

Now, I get it: you’re a business CEO, you’re running your business, you have a gazillion things on your plate already. How in the world do you slow down enough to put systems in place and then hire a team to help you out?

The answer? You don’t have to, because this is exactly what my team and I do. We will put your business on stilts, similar to how you put a house on stilts if someone is going to repair the foundation. You still live in the house, and then once the foundation is ready, you can literally build a skyscraper on that same foundation because it’s so strong now.

That’s what my team and I do for our CEOs. We come in and review what’s going on in your business, we install the systems and the workflows and the assets into your business, then we help you hire the right team and plug them into those systems so they can be successful.

We even train some of your team members to be really efficient at running the team and running your projects in the business so that you truly get to become the CEO that you’re here to be. This will allow you to step into your zone of genius, which is what it’s all about.

Are you wondering if you’re ready to take the next step in your business? Curious about whether you’re a good fit for our services? Take the free business assessment quiz to find out! And if you want to learn more, you can visit my website or schedule a call with me today. I can’t wait to hear from you!

If you want to make sure you never miss an episode of my podcast, come follow the 7 Figure Freedom Podcast on Spotify, subscribe on Google, or head over to Apple Podcasts. In the meantime, I’d love to connect with you over on Instagram or in the 7 Figure Freedom Club Facebook group so we can chat about what you got out of this episode!